Closing Pitcher
In baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL), is a relief pitcher who specializes in closing out games, i.e., getting the final outs in a close game. Closers often appear when the score is close, and the role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. A small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award. Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm are closers who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Background .]] Closers are generally selected to pitch the last few outs of games, most often when their teams are leading by a narrow margin of three runs or fewer, which aligns with the requirements to get a save. Accordingly, the save has traditionally been the marquee statistic for closers. Baseball Reference article: "Save" (Accessed 5/6/2010) http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/SaveJack Moore "On the Closer Position: The Save and RP Usage" Fangraphs, Dec. 30, 2009 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/on-the-closer-position-the-save-and-rp-usage/ Winning a close game in the last inning typically motivates each team to put their best forward, including situational pinch hitters. In particular, an away team that holds a tie or narrow lead in the ninth inning does not get a final opportunity on offense. This often leads to high leverage situations, which routinely demand the team's best reliever. Thus, closers are often the highest paid relief pitchers on their teams, since they are expected to be the most talented and "mentally tough".Greg Couch "Last three outs require mental toughness on the part of a closer" Baseball Digest, August 2004 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_8_63/ai_n6108375/?tag=content;col1 However, the "mental toughness" argument has recently been disputed, as has the very notion that counting saves truly measures a pitcher's ability and worth. Nevertheless, at the start of the 2010 season, all of the ten richest contracts handed out to baseball relievers were for closers.Cot's Baseball Contracts, Section: Relief Pitchers http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2000/05/most-lucrative-contracts.html The all-time Major League Baseball saves leader is Trevor Hoffman. On September 24, 2006 he broke Lee Smith's record by notching his 479th career save, and on September 7, 2010, he reached his 600th career save. Unlike many closers who rely on powerful fastballs, Hoffman instead relied on a changeup. Francisco Rodriguez holds the single-season mark for saves, having saved 62 games for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in . The concept of the closing pitcher, a player specifically designated to pitch no earlier than the eighth and generally not until the ninth inning, did not exist in the modern sense prior to the 1980s with the role of the closing pitcher evolving over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. Tony La Russa is frequently named as the innovator of the position, with Dennis Eckersley being the first player to be used almost exclusively in ninth inning situations.http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-relievers042610 Prior to this, all pitchers who appeared in games after the starting pitcher were often referred to generically as relief pitchers, with the best reliever sometimes being called a fireman. The best relievers came in when leads were in jeopardy, regardless of the inning and often pitched multiple innings.The most overrated position in sports An example of this is that Goose Gossage had 17 games where he recorded at least 10 outs in his first season as a closer, including three games where he went seven innings. He pitched over 130 innings as a reliever in three different seasons. Major awards and honors won by closers Major League Baseball | valign="top" align="center" | * Also won league Cy Young Award in the same year |} Nippon Professional Baseball |} Category:Position